Tire: Standardized solution for code reading in the tire industry

The production of tires is a complex process. Numerous production steps are required in order to create tires with the help of a variety of machines from a large number of materials. As a mass product, manufactured in type-related mass production, tires are also, for reasons of safety, subject to strict production and quality control, and require seamless traceability.Marking with bar codes is standard, but the properties of the tires as well as the material-handling environment mean that identification puts high demands on code reading. In addition, code readers must meet industrial standards, which include quick and easy integration, great robustness, reading reliability, and a quick return to operational availability after a fault. Our Vendor has developed for the tire industry a code reading system that can solve various different identification scenarios.

ImplementationCamera-based code readers permit standardized Track & Trace solutions for the tire industryTo identify tires reliably regardless of their size and the position and alignment of their identification and on different conveyors, SICK has developed a code reading system for bar codes and 2D codes. The reading performance reaches 100% for a fully visible code, a value achieved by no other reading system in this operational environment. It can also perform quality checks, such as checking the presence and size of color markings. The compact code reader is used on belt and hook conveyor systems for scanning from above. When it is integrated in a roller conveyor, the tires can also be identified from below. Code capture is omni-directional, i.e. without aligning the tires. The captured images are available as JPG files for analysis, archiving and tracing.Other information, such as the position of the bar code on the tire, is determined in real time to avoid additional handling processes.The control system is integrated via a system controller. Based on this, bar code scanners and RFID systems can be flexibly and easily added as necessary.